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Reasons Why I’m an Awful Writer

Hey all! So this isn’t a wangst post or anything, more me digging humorously into myself. I’m not a terrible writer. Really. I just like making fun of myself!

Things are going pretty well! Had fun out at my friend’s boathouse party. My back is feeling much better (still healing, but MUCH better.) I’ve been reading Exiles of Raifor by CH Ashton (soldelbarra on tumblr). Really enjoying it so far. Absolutely loving my Kindle!

Alright…time to get down to why I’m a terrible writer!

1. I Have the Attention Span of a Gnat

I have ADD. No, really, I have ADD. I have tons and TONS of ideas for EVERYTHING. And this can get overwhelming. I have notebooks full of ideas. That part of my attention span issue is awesome. I have so many ideas that I don’t know how many of them will actually pan out. More ideas than I know what to do with.

That’s fine.

But I also want to work on five thousand things at once. That makes it a little more problematic. I’ve long given up on the working on one thing at a time method. I just can’t. It doesn’t work. I get bored…and I start losing sleep because of ALL THE IDEAS.

It sounds melodramatic, but its true! I have lost sleep because of having too many ideas!

But yeah, I flit around from one thing to the next…leaving a bunch of half-finished, barely started manuscripts in my wake.

2. I Get Too Far Into My Character’s Heads

I’ve discussed this before. I have tendency to get WAY far into my character’s heads. This happens when I RP as well – so it isn’t limited to my own characters! I don’t know why this happens…but I guess I just really immerse myself in a character? I don’t know.

Anyway.

Getting really far into a character’s head is…odd.

Maybe I just have a really overactive imagination.

But sometimes I swear a character’s abilities affects my own.

I’m weird.

3. Writing Schedule? What’s that?!

This might boil down to my weird as hell sleep pattern as well (it’s not regular enough to be called a schedule). I don’t have a set writing schedule as much as I HAVE AN IDEA I MUST WRITE IT DOWN time. Or…wow! This story must be written RIGHT NOW time.

I’ve also found that I’m most creative between 9pm and 4am.

But I really don’t have a time that I sit down and write. I write every day. Whether it is novel, blog, or RP…I write every day. But it’s not a set time.

I really should get on that.

4. Sometimes My Novels Get Breaks…

Maybe I should call this a vacation. Or a sabbatical. Yes, my novels go on sabbatical. This ties in with ‘I have the attention span of a gnat’. Sometimes I just set novels aside for an undetermined amount of time. This happened with Opus Aria AND Opus Prelude. That was partially me needing some time away from the Opus universe (pfffft, I love that universe). The other part was I had a bunch of ideas and I was going crazy not working on them.

But they get set aside, gather dust, and in general don’t get finished.

Well, for awhile.

I usually come back to them (until something shiny rears its head).

5. Procrastinate Procrastinate Procrastinate

You know. This blog sat in my drafts for five months. I think that says enough there. I procrastinate like no other. When I was getting ready for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award…well, lets just say I forgot about it and then remembered in December. Ooops. Then I forgot about an unfinished novel (see see! novels get sabbatical!)…and started a new one. A few days later (and almost 20,000 words) I remembered Convergence Point.

I managed to get that together with a couple days to spare.

When I’m doing my publishing stuff…it comes down to getting the ebook ready and that’s cake (hahahaha no). And then there’s the hard copies. I put that off. Because it annoys me more. Getting that cover ready is WAY harder in my mind. So I put it off.

I should really be getting the hard copies ready first!

Alright…enough self-deprecation.

I don’t know why I wrote this. But it felt nice to get those flaws out there! It’s good to know your own flaws with your career path. Self-awareness is great.

What are your writing flaws? Do you have the attention span of a gnat?

3 thoughts on “Reasons Why I’m an Awful Writer”

Reblogged this on The Cheese Whines and commented:
I have a self-deprecating sense of humor. There is a difference between me actually bashing myself (which happens when I’m in a severe depressive state) and me ripping on myself in a humorous way, and most people don’t get it.
I love this post and may have to steal this idea! 😉
I will, of course, give credit to you, should I remember to even do this. I also have the attention span of a gnat, and being bipolar, I have so many different thought tracks going at the same time that I’m incredibly distractable and tend to confuse people.